Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) asks communities to work with them as they face the significant financial challenges ahead.
The council has recently been told by the Welsh Government that their funding will be drastically cut and whilst the authority expected some reduction in funding, the actual reduction is far beyond expectations.
With a budget of £160m, of which only £126m can be directly influenced, the council will need to find savings of at least £9m next year and a minimum of £23m over the next four years. To balance next year’s finances (2014/15), services could see their budgets being reduced by as much as 19%. This is dependent on the level of protection being offered to schools and social services. Inevitably, this will have on impact on council services.
In a bid to reach as many Monmouthshire residents as possible and help them understand the extent of the challenges ahead, the council is sending information to all households in the county by way of a newsletter.
MCC’s Leader, Cllr Peter Fox said:
“There are some big decisions that will need to be made over the coming months. Some of that will mean services change, stop or are run by other community groups. We need to help people understand the situation that we’re all facing and this newsletter is the first step in informing and involving our residents. It’s essential that we give everyone the opportunity to be involved.
“It’s important that residents know that we haven’t yet made any decisions about the services that will be affected. That is a conversation we need to have with residents. We will be running a series of community events so that residents can share their views and we’ll publicise those soon. We’re relying on our communities to tell us what matters to them and be involved.”
Cllr Phil Murphy, MCC’s cabinet member with responsibility for finance said:
“We recognise that the traditional role that the council plays is changing. It’s no longer about just providing services. Communities are setting their own goals and it’s our job to support them in achieving those goals. We need to continue to improve the way we support communities so that all efforts have a positive impact on future communities. We need to take into account the unique needs of their towns and places. There is no one size fits all and we want to talk to people about what matters most to them so we can target diminished budgets and resources as effectively as possible.”
Information about community events will be publicised soon. If you have ideas and want to get involved visit www.monmouthshire.gov.uk/futuremonmouthshire for more information.
